Merlin's Potion Accident
by Nicicia
Summary: Merlin has really done it this time, and Gaius is not amused, well, maybe a little. Merlin is mortified, the guards are incompetent, the knights are confused, and Arthur...well, let's just say teasing Merlin in the past is finally catching up to him
1. Spilling potions is dangerous, Merlin

**First Merlin fic. Feel the excitement. **

**I do not own Merlin, the BBC does, and for that, I thank you. The BBC does make my two favourite shows ;)**

**Anyway, you probably just want to read the story, so I'll let you to it.**

It was one of those miraculous occasions that seemed to Merlin, only to come around once in a blue moon or, whenever something very unpleasant happened to him that rendered him incapable of working, that Arthur would give Merlin a day off. A day to do whatever took his fancy without the prince's constant shouts of "Mer-lin!" usually followed by a ridiculously long list of chores that needed to be completed by the day's end.

Merlin had idly decided he needed to practice his potion making skills, the magical kind, that was. He'd found a few potion recipes scribbled, it seemed, by hand, underneath a few of the spells in his spell book. Merlin found the potion that was described to able the drinker the pleasure of shape shifting, particularly interesting.

Unfortunately for Merlin, in his eagerness to gather the ingredients and make the potion, he had failed to notice a few rather important details such as how long the effects of the potion were suppose to last(provided it was brewed correctly) and exactly what shape the drinker might turn into. Alas, Merlin was eagerly chopping up roots and adding them to the boiling liquid in the cauldron, blissfully unaware what he was getting himself into.

The fact that the potion's recipe was handwritten and seemed to be hastily scribbled, should have been an indication that brewing said potion wasn't perhaps, a great idea. Merlin, however, was too caught up in his fantasy of what it would be like to shape shift into a bird and soar underneath the skies on his day off, that he failed to notice the warning signs.

Merlin bent over his spell book and read the last ingredient; a lock of the drinker's hair. He reached atop his head and yanked off a lock of jet black hair and dropped it into his cauldron. The effects were immediate. The liquid started to bubble furiously, then changed colour from a murky brown to completely black.

Merlin peered at the recipe again to make sure he had done it right. Indeed, in the final stage before the potion is drinkable it should turn a shade of raven black. Merlin sat down on the bench beside the worktable feeling very happy about his accomplishment. Now, he only needed to wait for the potion to stop bubbling.

Unfortunately, in his state of elation at having brewed the potion successfully, Merlin forgot that in order for the potion to stop bubbling it would have to stop boiling, and to stop boiling it would have to be taken away from the fire.

Merlin jumped out of his seat and nearly fell to the floor as a huge BANG issued from his right. He regained his balance, only to nearly loose it again when he spotted the source of the noise. Large bubbles were rising steadily from the cauldron and exploding in showers of black droplets.

He hastily scrambled to the Cauldron and attempted to remove it from the fire, he gripping the cauldron with both hands and lifting it away from the flames. Barely three seconds later the fact that the cauldron was indeed, incredibly hot, caught up with his brain and, on instinct, Merlin let go of the burning cauldron as his hands seared with pain.

The cauldron hit the floor with an almighty BANG, and shattered as the potion within exploded.

The whole chamber filled with thick grey smoke, and Merlin couldn't see anything beyond his own nose. His eyes scrunched up in pain, his hands were burning and the smoke made his eyes water.

Then a new sensation assaulted him, a sticky substance was clinging to his skin. He was aware of it sticking to his legs fist, and then it seemed to move upward, past his midriff and steadily making its way over his chest. He could feel the substance sticking to his back now.

Merlin didn't even have time to panic before the slimy (yes, he was sure it was slimy) substance covered his neck and face. He felt it covering the back of his head as well; even his hair seemed to be submerged in it now.

Merlin tried to scream but his voice seemed to have gone. His whole body was covered in slimy liquid, he could feel the weight of it, and he thought it rather heavy for liquid. His whole body seemed start tingling and Merlin let out a gasp as he suddenly lost feeling of his limbs.

_Uh Oh!_

* * *

Gaius was exhausted, his legs ached and his back were fairing no better. Buying herbs on the market was easy, but walking all the way there and back to his chambers inside the castle, wasn't the easiest of tasks for Gaius anymore. He'd also tended to twelve patients, although none of their illnesses or injuries were life threatening, it was still strenuous for Gaius to tend to them all in one day, buy herbs, and generally being on his feet all day.

Gaius would normally have asked Merlin to help him with a good number of these tasks, at least have him buy the herbs, but today, Gaius had decided to tend to all tasks himself, because he felt Merlin truly did deserve a day off. Arthur had kept Merlin more busy than usual this last week, having him work late into the night, resulting in severe fatigue, and barely any time to eat, and goodness knows, that boy also use a decent meal or two.

So, today, Gaius was plainly exhausted as he was slowly but steadily making his way towards his chambers, hoping Merlin had done the sensible thing and used this day to catch up on sleeping and nourishment.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Gaius finally reached his chamber's door. As he reached for the handle and tentatively opened the door, he had never before looked this much forward to reach his bed. Gaius stepped inside, as though he was set on a time delay, it took him a whole five seconds before his hand jumped to his heart and he stumbled in shock at the sight before him.

In the middle of the room, among a turned-up table, broken bits of a cauldron, scattered parchment and broken vials, stood a tall, midnight black, horse.

Gaius could hardly believe his eyes, of all the things he could expect Merlin to drag into his chambers, this, was definitely not one of them.

For a few minutes all Gaius could do was simply stand and stare at the creature.

The horse had a shining black coat that seemed almost blue in the light of the setting sun. Gaius had seen a fair share of horses in his lifetime, but he had to admit, he had never seen one with a coat as beautiful as this. Gaius took note of a small white star on the horse's forehead, which was a perfect diamond shape. Its eyes were a piercing blue, a rarity in horses. It's jet black mane was short, as was its fringe and somehow it oddly reminded Gaius of Merlin's locks.

The horse cocked its head to the side, as though studying Gaius curiously, its ears forward. The blue eyes made it seem more expressional than any normal horse.

Gaius, finally able to comprehend what he was seeing was actually real, felt annoyance creeping up on him. He really had no idea how a horse could have made its way into his study but it was most certainly not by itself.

"MERLIN!"

The horse threw its head in the air and took as step backwards, startled by the sudden outburst.

When he received no reply, Gaius, shouted once more for his ward, he really wanted an explanation.

The horse nodded its head and stepped forwards, and accidentally turned over another small table with its hind legs.

Gaius continued to call "Merlin!" feeling properly angry now, and started making his way towards the stairs leading up to Merlin's bedroom. "Merlin, I don't know why or how you got a horse into my study, but rest assured, you are taking it back to where you found it this instant!"

He strode right past the horse and up the stairs to Merlin's bedroom and practically threw open the door, but Merlin was nowhere in sight. Sighing in frustration, Gaius closed the door on Merlin's deserted bedroom and clambered back down the small flight of stairs, his back protesting.

"Alright" he started to no one on particular until his eyes rested on the horse, still standing in the middle of the room. "You are getting out of here." He pointed a finger at it threateningly, though he had no idea how he was going to get the horse outside.

The horse threw its head from side to side and proceeded to walk over to the turned table. Gaius only looked on in growing frustration. He would have tried to stop it but his back was killing him, he really didn't have the energy to try and restrain a horse at the moment.

The horse lowered its head and started sniffing an open book discarded on the floor beside the turned-up table.

Gaius's eyes widened as the horse bit onto a page and tore it clean from the book.

"What're doing, you stupid beast!" cried Gaius, bustling up to the horse and grabbing a hold of the torn page. "Give that here!"

Surprisingly, the horse let go of the page at once, then snorted as though indignant. Gaius spared the horse a glare before looking at the page, sincerely hoping it wasn't a page from one his important medicine books.

He was relieved when he recognised the ancient language of the old religion, the written form of a magical incantation, but then became puzzled when he read the spell. It was a shape shifting spell, and scribbled underneath it in crude handwriting, was the recipe of a shape shifting potion.

Gaius felt a nudge on his already aching back; he turned to find the horse right behind him, bobbing its head up and down eagerly. Realisation dawned on Gaius. He looked wide-eyed at the horse.

"Merlin?"

The horse let out a low whinny, and Gaius took that as a confirmation.

"wha...how?" The horse, no Merlin, put his muzzle on the torn page in Gaius' hands.

Gaius really did not know what to say, and in the next few minutes his emotions raged from shocked, then relief at finding his ward had simply not left a horse in his study, shocked again over the fact that Merlin was the horse, then anger. In the end he settled on anger, though he didn't possess much energy for it.

"Merlin, how could you do this?" Gaius would have thrown his hands in the air but he really did not have the strength right now. "I've told you not to do anything reckless, and practice any spells involving human transformations without consorting with me first! You were suppose to use this day to rest, instead you get yourself turned into a horse," he finished in frustration. Why did Merlin always have to land himself in trouble on the most dreadful of days?

Merlin tossed his large black head, and Gaius could have sworn he saw Merlin roll his large eyes.

"Merlin, this is serious, this page speaks of no counter spell or curse, so I hope you have a way of turning back."

Merlin's horse body froze.

"I take it you do not know how to turn back, then?" sighed Gaius.

**Reviews are most welcome, please, share your thoughts :D How's the format of the story, because I really don't know how to post the story in a proper format. Help?**


	2. The evident bad decision

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There were many things Merlin wanted to say at that point. He wanted to tell Gaius, who seemed to naturally assume Merlin had used the shape shifting spell to turn himself into a horse, that he was really trying to brew the shape shifting potion and that it had exploded, and resulted in Merlin's newly acquired four legs. He wanted to ask Gaius if there was a recipe for a potion scribbled somewhere in his spell book that would turn him back into a human.

Merlin really wanted to have his human body back, he'd only been a horse for a few hours, most of which he'd spent too petrified to even move. He'd panicked when he first discovered his body was bigger than normal and that he had four legs. He had realised that his new form was an equine when he had turned his head and seen his own back, and then automatically assumed he was a horse. He had panicked, yes, but a small part of his mind had still gone: _I really hope I'm not a donkey._

"Alright, Merlin, just stay there." Merlin turned his head slightly to the side and saw Gaius had picked the spell book off of the floor and was turning the pages. "I will try and find a counter spell. Just stay there, and try not to make any more of a mess of the place."

Merlin really wanted to point out that because a potion was the result of his predicament, the logical solution would be to find a potion to turn him back, but the only sound that came out of his mouth was a pitiful whinny. Gaius turned round and looked at him, eyes twinkling faintly with what Merlin thought could only be amusement.

Oh great, he was suppose to be a stallion, surely his whinny should at least sound a bit more...manly?

Gaius, had now taken to slowly pace across the room, and Merlin had to turn his head to the side every time Gaius was in front of him. He was really starting to feel annoyed at not being able to see what was directly in front of him, because as his eyes were now located at the sides of his head.

"Hmmm..." Gaius stopped pacing, and Merlin looked inquiringly at him.

"I can't seem to find anything that would turn you back. However, I will check some of my other books that mention human transfigurations and transformation."

Gaius disappeared up the stairs leading to Merlin's room, carrying the spell book under his arm, when he descended the stairs; he was no longer carrying the spell book, instead only the single page Merlin had torn out of it.

"It would help, if you tell me exactly what made you like this." Gaius looked at Merlin with his typical serious expression, "Did you use the spell?"

Merlin tossed his head from side to side, hoping Gaius would understand.

"It was the potion, then?"

Merlin nodded eagerly, his fringe flopping a little between his black ears.

_Finally_

"I guess that explains the broken cauldron." Said Gaius, his tone bearing slight tinge of amusement.

Merlin had the grace to try and look sheepish, and he idly wondered how such an expression would look on a horse.

"I'll see what I can find." Gaius turned his back on Merlin and started looking at books on his bookshelf. Merlin watched as Gaius pulled out book after book, looking through its content, sigh, and then place the book back on the shelf. It was like watching a time loop, and Merlin felt more anxious by as the minutes ticked by.

He felt a sudden overwhelming desire to move, to run. It was as though his whole body was trembling with the effort to stand in one place. His muscles were flexing and if he didn't move soon I thought he might go mad.

_Knock! Knock!_

The knocking seemed twice as loud as usual, and Merlin couldn't help it, he jumped forwards, away from the door and crashed into the bookshelf, nearly hitting Gaius and sending books cascading down. The books were painfully hitting his back and neck. He quickly leapt away from the shower of heavy books and his front legs smashed into the infirmary bed, which toppled over from the impact.

_Knock! Knock!_

"Gaius, is everything alright?" Came a familiar voice from outside the door.

Merlin froze, his ears rigid and head held high. Gaius, who had moved to the other side of the room right after Merlin had nearly crashed into him, sent Merlin a strict look and began making his way towards the door.

"Everything is fine." he said loudly, " hold on, I'll be right there."

When Gaius reached the door he paused and whispered "Stay still" and sent Merlin one of his most serious gazes, but he needn't have, Merlin had absolutely no intention of moving. He was too terrified that the person waiting outside the door would see him in his current state, even though they probably wouldn't recognize him.

Gaius, apparently satisfied Merlin obeyed, opened the door a few inches and covered as much of the opening as he could with his body.

"Gwen, what can I help you with?"

"I'm really sorry to bother you, Gaius," Gwen's tone was apologetic, and even though Merlin couldn't see her, he could clearly imagine her soft expression." Morgana asked me to fetch her a cleansing draught."

"Of course, wait here." Gaius closed the door and hurried over to the only table that was not turned over, and picked up a small flask containing a rather disgusting looking dark green liquid. He hurried back to the door and opened it just enough inches to hand the flask to Gwen.

"Here you are, I hope the Lady Morgana will be pleased with it, and tell her she must drink no more than ten drops before she goes to sleep."

"Thank you, Gaius, I'll be sure to tell her." Gwen tone seemed distracted "Are you sure everything's alright? It sounded like something heavy was falling over earlier."

Merlin tensed, he really hoped Gwen wouldn't insist on coming in to have a look.

"Oh, don't worry, that was only a bench falling over."

"Oh, do you want some help with lifting it back up?" said Gwen

"No, thank you, that's quite alright."

"Are you sure?" Gwen did not sound convinced, and Merlin knew she was being considerate because of Gaius' age. "I wouldn't want you to strain your back. Not that I don't think you're not strong enough to handle it or anything." she added hastily, evidently afraid she might have accidentally offended Gaius.

If Merlin could have chuckled, he would.

"It's alright, Gwen. I'll have Merlin help me with the bench." Said Gaius pleasantly "You should get the cleansing draught to the Lady Morgana, best not have her wait too long for it."

"Oh, right, of course." Said Gwen, sounding relieved "Good night, Gaius."

"Goodnight." Gaius gave a her polite nod and closed the door.

Merlin heard Gwen's retreating footsteps echoing down the hall and.

Gaius turned to Merlin and let out a deep sigh. Merlin sighed too, though it sounded more like a drawn out snort.

Gaius once again fixed Merlin with a serious gaze "We must get you out of here."

Merlin's large blue eyes widened, and he looked at Gaius in what he hoped resembled disbelief.

_What!_

"I know what you thinking, Merlin, but you can't stay in here like this." Said Gaius sternly "I managed to keep Gwen out but I can't guarantee I'll be able to keep out anyone else.

_But I can't go outside like this!_ Merlin shook his head.

"Merlin, I don't like this anymore than you do, but you must get outside, we can't risk anyone seeing you inside the castle like this. How would you explain a horse in your chambers?"

Merlin had to admit he couldn't really think of a good explanation, not that he'd be able to tell Gaius if he had managed to come up with any. The prospect of being a horse for the entire night wasn't something Merlin found even remotely tempting, but looking at Gaius, he could tell by the way the man was limping and how his hand frequently jumped to rest on his lower back, that Gaius was truly exhausted. No matter how much Merlin wanted Gaius to help him find a way to turn him human again; his heart didn't own it to deny his uncle his much needed rest.

Merlin lowered his head as a sign of agreement, at least, that's how he hoped Gaius would interpret it.

"Good, you see my point, Merlin." Gaius let out a sigh and slowly walked over to his bed, hand touching his lower back again, and sat down.

"Now" Gaius began "We must figure out how we will smuggle you out of the castle, and where you can stay. The obvious choice is, of course, the royal stables.-"

Merlin's head shot up again and he was about to voice a protest, but Gaius held up a hand to stop him "Arthur will surely come looking for you when you don't show up for work tomorrow" Gaius continued "So we will have to get you outside by then, and I must think for a good excuse as to why you're not able to work."

_Arthur_

He had completely forgotten about Arthur. Merlin could see it in his mind's eye. The prince would show up in Gaius's chambers assuming Merlin had overslept, and then proceed to wake him himself, but of course Arthur would find Merlin's bedroom empty, with no sign that the bed had even been slept in. Arthur would then go a whole day with other servants completing Merlin's usual tasks, and when Merlin would finally would return, Arthur would give him an extra long list of chores as a punishment for slacking off work, followed by relentless insults and sparring practice with Merlin as his unwilling sparring partner.

A small comfort though, Merlin was pretty sure that Arthur would at least not put in the stocks, as they seemed to be past that.

He was pulled out of his stupor by Gaius's voice.

"I think the best time to get you out will be at night." Gaius reasoned "There will be very few people about the corridors so the risk of running into anyone would be minimal."

Merlin nodded his agreement. Yes, he definitely did not want to run into anyone, especially not Arthur or Gwen, or worse, Uther, who Merlin was pretty sure, would not take kindly to finding a horse inside the castle corridors. He could not help but wonder though, what Uther's expression would be like if he actually did see a horse roaming the castle corridors. It would have been priceless.

"The sun has already set, now we only have to wait for complete darkness, and yes, Merlin, I am coming with you. Seeing as you're not yet used to your new body-" Gaius gestured to the messy chamber "-it would be safer if I help you navigate."

As much as Merlin wanted to retort that he was fully capable of taking care of himself, he had to admit Gaius did have point, Merlin still wasn't used to moving around on four legs, unless washing the floor counted.

"Until then, I will get some rest, and you try and move as little as possible, I cannot emphasise this enough."

Merlin attempted to grin, which only made him look like he was tasting something quite nasty, and quickly ceased his efforts when Gaius promptly burst into laughter.

Merlin sent Gaius a glare with his large, piercing blue, equine eyes, and his ears stuck out to the sides.

"I'm sorry, Merlin" said Gaius between chuckles, but the tone of his voice made Merlin doubt his honesty "But that truly did look funny."

Merlin snorted, held up his head in an act of trying to look properly offended, and turned it away from Gaius, whose chuckles only increased.

It was quite some time past midnight, the whole castle was cast in deep darkness broken only by the moonlight filtering through the windows. An eerie silence hung in the castle corridors, a silence that was about to be broken, and spectacularly so.

Gaius opened the door to his chambers, slipped his head outside and peered down the corridor. Satisfied that is was empty and silent, he turned and whispered to Merlin to follow him and stepped out into the corridor.

Fortunately, though not entirely unsurprising, Merlin was quite thin even as a horse, and he managed to squeeze through the chamber's door without too much trouble. He only had to slow down a bit when getting his hindquarters through.

Merlin was relieved when he stepped all the way through the doorway, he hadn't been quite sure he was able to fit through the door to Gaius's chambers. Because Gaius' door were the smallest he had to go through, Merlin viewed it as the most difficult obstacle he would have to face on this mission to get him outside safely.

No sooner had Merlin and Gaius taken a few steps, an obstacle neither Merlin nor Gaius had even considered presented itself. Merlin's hooves, although not wearing iron shoes, still made very loud _clicks_ on the stone floor of the corridor.

Merlin came to a very abrupt halt and peered at Gaius in the darkness; trying to convey the question: what should they do now?

As though Gaius had read his mind, he whispered an answer "This part of the castle isn't illuminated by torches so there shouldn't be anyone around that will be able to hear us, however, the lower corridors will be lit and there will be guards not far away, we will just have to make our way through slowly and very carefully."

Merlin gazed down the dark corridor. This was definitely not going to be easy, he would have to learn how to step lightly in a rather heavy body, and he would have to do it with four legs.

"Are you ready?" asked Gaius from beside him.

Merlin responded by taking a very careful, and deliberate step forwards.

The first step into the chaos and confusion in store for the guards, knights, and prince of Camelot.

It was only a few minutes later when Merlin encountered another obstacle he had not anticipated as a challenge, and had no clue how to tackle, and just the thought of facing it on four legs utterly terrified him.

A flight of stairs.

Merlin stopped and watched as Gaius stepped down the stairs, almost envious of how easily Gaius descended the steps on two legs. When He had reached the very middle he finally seemed to realise Merlin wasn't following and turned round.

"Come on, Merlin." he whispered in exasperation.

Merlin looked at Gaius, the stairs and back with a look that clearly said "_you've got be joking!"_

"Merlin, you have to go down the stairs." said Gaius in a matter-of-fact voice.

Merlin just shook his head

_No way!_

"Merlin, you have no choice." enquired Gaius "Just take one step at a time and watch what you're doing carefully."

_Easy for you to say, _Merlin retorted mentally, _you've got to legs and can see what's directly in front you!_ He gave both Gaius and the stairs a long, reproachful look. Nevertheless, he took one incredibly tentative step forward, and his left front hoof hit the first step with a dull _Click_.

He glanced up nervously at Gaius, who gave him a small smile of encouragement. He turned his eyes on the stairs once more and lifted his right front leg and carefully placed it on the first step to rest beside his left. He paused, at a loss for where to place his hind legs. Perhaps if he turned slightly sideways he would be able to at least put one hind leg on the first step?

Merlin shifted his position so he was facing the stairs slightly sideways and carefully placed a hind leg on the first step. With said step now occupied by three of his four legs, he needed to place at least one leg on the next step before he could move his last. He felt nothing short of ridiculous.

Well, at least he'd found some way of getting down the stairs, he thought wryly.

Gaius nodded, turned away from Merlin and shuffled down the rest of the stairs. When he reached the bottom he turned and silently watched Merlin's progress.

It was an extremely slow process. Merlin was terrified of taking step wrong and end up tripping head first down the stairs. He was also horribly aware that time was passing. This corridor was lit, and even though Merlin was grateful for the torchlight that was helping him see the steps much better, it also meant that someone, a servant or a guard on patrol, could appear at any moment.

His gaze was firmly fixed on the stone steps, and his ears pinned backwards in deep concentration. If ever a horses' brow could look furrowed, this horse's did.

Carefully placed step after carefully placed step, Merlin finally reached the middle of the stone staircase, standing right in front of a window, the moonlight joining that of the torches', making Merlin's midnight black fur shine beautifully dark blue, and his piercingly blue eyes almost seemed to illuminate.

If anyone would have happened to look up from the courtyard and through that exact window, they would have seen a large dark horse standing oddly in the middle of a flight of stairs, four legs spread out on separate steps. They would most likely have shaken their head in disbelief and starved themselves of mead, cider and vine for the rest of the week.

Merlin reached the bottom of the stairs in a kind of relieved elation. He held his head high; shot Gaius a smug look and strutted up to stand beside him.

Gaius sighed in both exasperation and relief before starting down the corridor with Merlin by his side.

They had perhaps, not taken more than ten steps fowards before Merlin, who now felt overly confident on four legs after having conquered the staircase and was walking with taking long strides, managed to promptly trip over his own feet, in this case hooves. He staggered right into a stand holding a dozen candles.

A very loud clang reverberated through the corridor as the stand made impact with the stone floor, the candles coming free and rolling, few feet away, still lit.

Merlin regained his balance, turned his head slowly and looked at the mixed expression of horror and irritation plastered in Gaius' face.

Merlin tried to give him an apologetic look.

_Ops...?_

And that was when the sound of footsteps started ringing from down the corridor, and Gaius whispered urgently "run!" which was exactly what Merlin did, albeit rather clumsily.

**_Thirty minutes later_**

Prince Arthur never found being woken up in the middle of the night even remotely amusing, especially not when it was his manservant who'd awoken him. Indeed, most of the royal household who'd ever have the misfortune of being given the unpleasant task of waking up the prince, knew that one should only ever disturb Prince Arthur's slumber if there was a serious crisis. Unless the castle or kingdom, or both, was under attack, Arthur should be left well alone and his chambers should be avoided at all costs during night-time.

It was therefore natural that the poor guard who'd been given the unpleasant task of waking Prince Arthur immediately, should be nervous. If he didn't end up at sword point, he would probably face the wrath of the prince's insults when he informed him of the reason he was being summoned at this hour. Being young and new at his job, he was not really sure what to expect, only that it would be something unpleasant.

Prince Arthur was sleeping blissfully in his large bed. He was lying on his stomach, head turned to the side and practically buried in his feather pillow, and one arm slumped lazily over the side of the bed. He was also snoring in a manner most people would simply describe as: loudly.

_Knock! Knock!_

Arthur simply continued snoring away in a deep sleep.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Arthur groaned and turned his head to the other side, away from the door.

"Prince Arthur, I have been asked to summon you, sire!"

Arthur heard, but being half asleep, did not want to acknowledge whoever was calling him from outside the door.

"My lord, please forgive me." There was a creak as the door to his chamber's opened and Arthur heard someone step inside.

That was it, Arthur's eyes snapped open, fully awake and annoyed. "What?" he said heatedly, and raised himself to a sitting position in his bed, shooting the guard a venomous glare.

The guard faltered under Arthur's gaze "Sire, I was asked to fetch you immediately."

"Clearly," said Arthur dryly "Why?" He was still glowering at the guard. Arthur was now definitely sure there was not a crisis taking place due to the manner of which he'd been awoken. If there was an attack, it would have been the first thing coming out of the guard's mouth.

The guard shifted his weight from one foot to another and purposefully avoided looking directly at Arthur in case he should meet his eyes.

"Well?" said Arthur, growing impatient.

"There is a..." The guards began nervously"...a situation, sire."

"And...?"

The guard's eyes looked from side to side before again settling his gaze on something above Arthur's head and spoke in a very hesitant tone "there seems to be a...a horse...in the castle...sire."

Arthur opened his mouth to say something but paused, not quite sure he had heard the guard correctly.

"Did you just say horse?" Arthur asked slowly, and from the look on Arthur's face, the guard might as well have grown two heads.

The guard nodded, still hesitant to meet Arthur's gaze, even though it was no longer glowering.

"A horse...in the castle?" said Arthur, his tone taking on a small note of incredulity.

"Yes, sire"

Of all reasons why a guard would be asked to wake Arthur in the middle of the night, this was certainly something he had never envisioned.

Arthur stared in disbelief at the guard, who seemed to try to shrink before his eyes. For a moment, Arthur considered the incredulous possibility that the guard might be having him on, or perhaps one of his knights, or, god forbid, Merlin, were trying to play some elaborate prank on him. Arthur quickly banished the thought, he doubted his knights would ever try and play him, though he did have his doubts about Merlin.

"Is this true?" Arthur said in his most serious tone, putting on the altogether familiar mask of indifference he normally wore in court with his father "Is there actually a living horse in the castle?"

"It is, sire."

Arthur looked away from the guard for a moment, considering the information that a horse, a real, living horse, was apparently roaming the castle corridors. It was strange, and much unexpected, however, Arthur could not help but wonder why exactly he, was being summoned.

"Why, exactly, am I being summoned?" Arthur asked, his tone indifferent, though he looked at the guard with narrowed eyes.

"To...um..." The guard looked like he wished for nothing more than to melt into a puddle on the floor "it is believed, sire, that you will be able to catch the horse...sire." The guard added, his eyes darting very briefly to Arthur's face.

"You haven't been able to catch it?" asked Arthur in disbelief; his eyes widened with every word "Surely the guards are more than capable of catching a horse? Even a servant can manage that!"

The guard swallowed "The knights have already been called in, sire, and I'm afraid they too were...unable to catch the horse, sire."

"The Knights?"

The guard swallowed again, this time with a very loud _Gulp! _"Correct, sire."

Arthur was too shocked to do anything more than stare at the poor guard in pure disbelief and exasperation, if he hadn't been, he would already have voiced his annoyance at the guard's very annoying habit of calling him "sire" one too many times. As it happened, Prince Arthur felt too shocked to even move, as the information he had just received were being processed by his mind.

A horse was on the loose in the castle, the guards couldn't catch it, therefore the knights were called upon, and evidently unable to catch it, and so they decided to summon the prince.

After a very pregnant pause, Prince Arthur opted for saying a very, un-princely thing:

"You've got to be kidding me!"

**So, what do you think? :D I love to hear your thoughts. How's the grammer? I hope it's alright, if there's any grammatical errors please let me know, will you? ;) **


	3. Bring In The Guards And The Sharp Turns

**Merlin belongs to the BBC, had they belonged to me, however, I'd make a Merlin movie as the last ever Merlin finale, but hopefully we'll have a few more series before it ends ;)**

**Now, enjoy the story!**

And that was when the sound of footsteps started ringing from down the corridor, and Gaius whispered urgently "run!" which was exactly what Merlin did, albeit rather clumsily.

Merlin heard a voice speak to Gaius as he half-walked, half-trotted round the corner at the far end of the hall. He knew Gaius would do his best to stall the guards for as long as possible to buy Merlin time to disappear down further corridors. Hopefully, the guards hadn't caught any glimpses of Merlin as he rounded the corner. Merlin really felt out of his depths, and incredible vulnerable trotting unsteadily down the corridor. His hooves beat an unsteady rhythm of clicks on the stone tiles, and he felt he might trip any second.

Merlin knew it would only be a matter of time before someone heard him, he only hoped he could find a way out of the castle first. Oh bloody hell, when did the floor become so slippery? His hooves where skidding every time he tried to slow down, and his already slim control over his hind legs slipped every so often and one of his hind legs would shoot sideways. He had to use every mount of resolve not to fall over. He was suddenly felling very glad he was not wearing horseshoes, because he was certain he wouldn't have managed to stay on his feet if he had.

He continued trotting very slowly down the many castle corridors, clumsily going around countless corners. He wasn't entirely sure, but he guessed he was somewhere in the east wing, and unfortunately nowhere near ground level, which ultimately meant two things; more stairs, and still a good chance he would be seen.

The thought of being spotted made him pick up speed t, running a little faster than a jog.

Merlin felt s chill run down his spine, and his eyes widened. Up ahead of him was a very abrupt turn. Merlin started to panic; he didn't know how to turn at a trot, and especially not on a very slippery surface! Why did have to be stupid enough to speed up in the first place?

He tried to slow down, his hooves slipping in all directions as though he was running on ice, and he had to use great strength to direct his legs back underneath the rest of his body.

It was time to turn, Merlin ground his hind legs into the floor in an attempt to slow down his momentum, but instead of turning the corner he skidded right into the wall, hitting it sideways.

The impact with the wall didn't hurt as much as Merlin had expected it would, but he felt oddly embarrassed. He turned his head and looked around to make sure no one had bared witnesses to his disastrous attempt to turn the he saw no one he breathed a sigh of relief, and this time it actually did sound like a proper sigh. Merlin decided he would continue at a walk from now on, he would only resort to running if he had to.

Unfortunately for Merlin, that would only be a couple of minutes later.

Merlin walked down the empty corridor, the torchlight making flickering patterns of shadow and light on the stone walls. He saw wooden doors lining both sides of the corridor up ahead. He knew he must be very near the next flight of stairs now; they should be down the hall around the corner at the end of the corridor, past all the ominous doors.

He now knew two things with absolute certainty; he was in fact somewhere in the eastern part of the castle, and he would have to be very, very quiet.

He contemplated turning back but realised that there were guards somewhere back there with Gaius. Although Gaius might have been able to send the guards in the opposite direction, there was still a very good chance he'd get caught if he tried going back to Gaius.

At this point, Merlin saw only two options, risk getting caught back there, or risk getting caught here. He quickly made up his mind, and as usual, Merlin's sense of judgement was rushed and poor.

Hoping the rooms behind the doors were empty, but knowing most of them wouldn't be, Merlin started past the first door, taking very slow and tentative steps. His ears where turning in all directions, listening to every sound. The clicks of his hooves on the tiles seemed ten times louder all of a sudden.

He didn't want to go too fast for fear of making so much noise he'd attract the attention of the rooms' occupants, but he knew he had to get through this corridor as quickly as possible because it was always patrolled at night. There was only a matter of time before a guard would show up around a corner, hence why this corridor wasn't on the route he and Gaius had planned to go through to get Merlin outside. Merlin thought it was typical that he should end up here, the only corridor that could be worse would be the one Arthur's chambers resided in.

Merlin cursed himself for thinking of Arthur's chambers, which, incidentally, he would not be cleaning the following day. Normally that would have cheered Merlin up, but the reason for which he wouldn't be able to clean them wasn't sparking cheerfulness in him at all. He was horse, and he had no idea how to turn back into a human. What if he never turned back? How was he supposed to protect Arthur and fulfil his destiny if he was forced to live in the stables for the rest of his life, eating hay and oats?

Too distracted by his thoughts, Merlin once again failed to see where he was going, and consequently walked right into his second candle stand, located between two of the wooden doors. His breast's impact with the candle stand broke Merlin out of his reverie, and he could do nothing but watch in horror as the candle stand hit the floor with a loud clang. Merlin watched the candles roll in all directions as the clang echoed down the corridor, it seemed to linger in the walls. Please stop, Merlin thought desperately, please let nobody hear that!

And then everything went quiet. Merlin stood rooted to the spot, feeling pure disbelief at having sent a candle stand crashing to the floor for the second time this night. His ears swivelled in all directions, searching for the footsteps he was sure would come every second now, but his ears were only met with a silence so deafening he might as well have lost the ability to hear all together.

How long had he been standing there, frozen? It seemed like hours. His was heart beating frantically and his gaze was lingering on the corner up front. His ears were still turning in all directions, until they suddenly came to rest at the sound of rusty hinges creaking in protest.

Merlin shut his eyes, as though somehow not seeing where he was would enable him to transport himself away. His ears were pinned backwards, listening to the telltale sound of a door being slowly opened, and then another, and another. His ears shot forwards and then back again as more creaking resonated all through the corridor.

Merlin opened his big eyes and slowly and turned his head to look around. All through the corridor doors were half opened, and heads were peeking out. Merlin felt over a dozen pairs of eyes glued to him, and he saw them gazing at him with very perplexed expressions.

For a moment it was as though time itself had stopped. Sleepy guards were staring at Merlin as though they had never seen anything more peculiar, which in truth, Merlin thought, they probably hadn't. Merlin was hopelessly looking up and down the corridor as the expressions on the guards' faces changed to confused.

Time eventually caught up with Merlin and the dozen guards, and Merlin realised he should take the chance while he still had it and he jumped into a brisk trot. He ran past guards standing stupidly in their doorways, dressed in their sleeping garments, staring confusedly at Merlin as he passed.

Merlin made it all the way to the corner before the guards were finally jumping into action. He heard their running footsteps behind him as he slowed down and rounded the corner, with more success than last time, only slipping a little, but thankfully avoiding a collision with the opposing wall.

The footsteps became louder, and Merlin felt a sense of dread rising in his belly. He heard a shout and looked round; the guards were closing in. As much as Merlin didn't want to get caught, and dreaded the implications if he did, he couldn't help the small feeling of amusement he got from seeing a dozen guards pursuing him in nothing but their large sleeping tunics. Their movements were still a bit clumsy after being asleep, and only about four seemed to be wearing any form of footwear.

At that point, Merlin couldn't decide which he thought funnier, the guards running barefoot, or the guards running in boots but no trousers.

Merlin was quickly jolted back to the seriousness of the situation at hand as he realised the guards were gaining on him and he was fast approaching a staircase.

This was it, he thought, there was no way he'd be able to run down a flight of stairs. He could barely manage to turn a corner! How did the stairs get so close so fast? He was only a few feet away from it now, and he knew he wouldn't be able to stop in time even if he wanted to. He had no choice; he had to go down it one way or another.

His front legs started down the stairs and his hindquarters followed way too fast. He bounded down the steps, his legs acting on their own accord to stabilize his descent, but to no avail. He was already halfway down the stairs when both his front hooves slipped at the same time, and on instinct he pushed his hind legs off the steps with all his strength. He was in midair, but he realised would not reach the bottom of the stairs, he was too far up.

His natural instincts responded and he felt a surge of power rush through his large body. The guards at the top never saw Merlin's large, blue, equine eyes turn golden as he flew above the rest of the steps. His front hooves landed surprisingly lightly on the stone floor at the bottom.

Merlin was shocked, hardly believing he had actually made the jump, which was far too big to be in the realms of possibility, even for a horse. He had done instinctual magic; there wasn't a doubt in his mind. He would always recognise the feeling of performing magic.

The sounds of dozens of footsteps descending the stairs snapped Merlin out of his temporary shock over what he'd just done, and he started trotting away at a quick pace. As he ran, Merlin felt a spark of hope flare inside him. He could still do magic, which meant he might be able to turn himself back with a spell, if Gaius could find one, that was. How he would be able to say the spell when not being able to talk, however, was another matter entirely.

"Run faster you lot!"

"We're gaining on it!"

"Anyone have a rope?"

"Bloody horse!"

The guards' shouts were loud enough to be heard two corridors down.

Merlin ran down narrrow corridor after large corridor, his ability to turn was improving significantly, but he still had to slow down every time he turned a corner and now the guards were only a few feet away. Merlin felt a chill run down his spine and he felt panic flare within him like a flame. He didn't know why he felt so afraid all of a sudden, all he knew was that he must run faster.

Something hit his back and bounced of off it. It felt like a rope.

_They were trying to put a rope around him!_

"Damn it!"

"Try again, we've nearly got it!"

Merlin burst into a canter, not caring whether his hooves slipped or not. Relief surged through him when he heard the footsteps and shouts of the guards coming from further and further away. Soon, the only tangible sounds where that of his hooves hitting the floor at a steady and surprisingly soothing rhythm.

Merlin was surprised at how good he felt all of a sudden. He felt oddly relaxed using his muscles more naturally. It was as though his body had been asking to do this for hours and he had finally given in to its urges. He was suddenly overcome with an overwhelming desire to go even faster, to run, to fly... he saw another turn ahead, and the feeling immediately vanished, replace by instant panic. He seemed to be panicking a lot tonight.

He slowed down to a trot, but too late, he went sliding straight into the wall.

_Not again!_

This time it hurt.

Merlin shook his head and then proceeded to shake the rest of his body as well, as though ridding himself of the pain like it was nothing but water.

He could once again hear the guards approaching. This time he went straight into a canter.

Merlin maintained the good distance between himself and his pursuers, the guards didn't stand a chance of catching up while Merlin kept cantering. To turn, he had to slow down a fair bit, and the guards slowly gained a few more feet for each turn.

Merlin eventually opted for some good old dirty tricks.

He used his silent magic to inconspicuously tip candle stands over as he passed them. He could hear the shouts and yells of the guards as they tripped over the candle stands. He didn't want to use his little trick excessively though, less the guards might become suspicions of how every candle stand the horse passed inconveniently fell into their path.

During the chase, Merlin became aware that more guards were joining the chase. It was, of course, inevitable that he would run into some of the fully dressed and armed guards who patrolled the castle at night.

He nearly crashed into another two when he rounded a corner and immediately jumped into a canter; luckily, the guards had enough sense to jump out of the way of the incoming animal, only to join the ever growing group of pursuing guards.

Merlin knew he needed to lose the pack following him if he wanted any hope of getting outside and find someplace to hide. He noticed the torches lighting the corridor, and an idea instantly sprang to mind.

Merlin's eyes blazed gold, and a strong breeze suddenly surged through the corridor, the flames in the torches blazed before they all went out simultaneously, casting Merlin and the guards in impenetrable darkness.

Merlin heard sharp intakes of breath and a few gasps of surprise. The sound of footsteps ceased, and only the sound of clicking hooves could be heard through the dark.

He had only conjured the wind as an excuse as to why the torched suddenly extinguished. It was a poor one of course, but he felt confident the guards would buy it.

It worked only too well, the guards momentarily stopped, hopefully for long enough for Merlin to get out of earshot. Unfortunately, Merlin's eyes had yet to adjust to the darkness, and he didn't register the sharp turn of a corner until he, once again, smashed into a wall.

Cursing himself for his own insolence, he shook his head and snorted before he, once more, started into a slow canter. In his mid he could clearly hear Arthur exclaim in incredulity "You really are an idiot, aren't you Merlin?" he could even picture the prince rolling his eyes.

Two staircases and five small corridors later, Merlin found himself walking through a low ceiling corridor with an incredible amount of twists and turns. Merlin knew this corridor well because he walked through it on his way to Arthur's chambers. It was a shortcut Merlin used every morning, regardless of whether he was late or not. The small eventually led to a bigger corridor with walls usually adorned with large red tapestries, which now looked bright with Merlin's equine vision.

Merlin knew if he turned to the left he would find a staircase leading up to the corridor where Arthur's chambers were, so naturally, his only option was turning right.

As he walked, he was constantly aware of every sound and every scent. It was only now that Merlin felt more at ease in his new body, that he came to consciously explore and appreciate its unique qualities. Being a horse, he discovered he had a strong sense of smell; he could detect the salty scent of dried droplets of sweat on the floor where Knights passed after training. He also had a very good view of what was around him. He might not be able to see what was directly in front of him at a close, but his monocular vision was excellent. If anyone or, anything, tried to sneak up behind him, unless they were directly behind his tail, he would easily spot them.

His new colour vision was a bit disorientating, though, only brown, white, and black stayed the same as his human vision. He knew everything red just appeared a bright, almost white, and that he had good night vision when his eyes were properly adjusted.

Merlin focused on what lay ahead, prickling his ears and focusing on listening intently for footsteps and voices. Hearing neither, he continued walking and took a right turn.

That's when he heard them, the sound of running feet and the steady rhythm of breathing. Someone was definitely in a hurry, and Merlin concluded there would only be one reason for anyone to be in a hurry in the castle tonight.

They must be looking for him.

Should he run? Whoever was approaching hadn't reached this corridor yet, and if he ran the sound of his hooves would give away his position, but what other choice did he have? As soon as they reached his corridor they would spot him anyway. Perhaps he could hide?

Merlin looked at his surroundings, there were the tapestries, but he dismissed the idea before it even fully materialised. He would definitely not attempt to hide behind a tapestry, that wouldn't even work if he was human.

There were a few doors; leading into what Merlin knew were guests' chambers and broom cupboards. That would simply have to suffice.

Stepping up do the door to one of the guests' chamber (he severely doubted he would fit in a broom cupboard) he used magic to open the door, and walked calmly inside. Purely for amusements sake, he used one of his hind legs to close the door behind him.

The gusts' chambers were unoccupied, and therefore unlighted, Merlin had to rely on his night vision and the moonlight streaming through the window in order to get a good look at the place. There was a four poster bed, a table and a chair, a screen and a couple of cupboards. Boring.

Merlin listened to the footsteps as they passed outside the door and faded down the corridor. Satisfied he couldn't hear anyone else outside; he once again used magic to open the door and stepped back out into the corridor.

And that's when his stomach gave a very loud growl. Merlin realised he hadn't eaten in ages, and that he was in fact very hungry, no, not very, but extremely hungry. His body wanted sustenance, and it wanted it this instant.

Merlin should have known better, but his mind automatically filled with thoughts of food, and he did not want to wait until he got to the stables, and he definitely did not want to eat hay. Merlin decided to take a quick trip to the kitchens first. Just a quick trip down, he promised himself, and then he would go straight outside. No one ever guarded or patrolled the kitchens anyway, because lying at the heart of the castle and on the lowest floor, who would ever be able to break in there? Unless they were already inside the castle, of course. The majority of the castle's food supplies weren't even stored there, but the leftover bread was.

Merlin would settle for bread, and preferably a lot of it.

**Merlin, Merlin, Merlin, when will you ever learn? XD Next Chapter will have Arthur in it, I promise ;) So, what do you think? I absolutely adore hearing your thoughts, so please, don't be shy :D Please let me know if you spotted any grammer mistakes. I'm sorry about any typos, I try to spot them all but I'm sure a few eluded my observant eyes. xD I'm also pretty sure I overused the word 'corridor' :P In my defence, there really are an awful lot of corridors in the castle. ;)**

**Oh, and for this chapter I brushed up on my knowledge of quine vision, There are a few debates about how horses percieve colours. They do see some, studies hace shown they are able to detect red as bright, and they are able to pick out green objects in front of a green backround. I also know form my personal experince at coaxing my own horse to jump over a blue mat, that horses see blue as dark. That's why horses usually shy away from jumps with blue mats or water underneath. The thing about brown and black I'm not sure about, so that might very well be utter rubbish. XD**


	4. Enter Prince Arthur

**I don't own Merlin, the BBC does.**

**So, are you ready for Arthur to finally meet Horse Merlin? ;)**

**Enjoy**

The door to the castle kitchen swung slowly open. The head of a black horse poked through the opening and looked around. The kitchen lay in silent darkness. The horse's eyes changed colour from sapphire blue to bright gold, and the next second, flames burst to life in a couple of torches at either side of the door.

Merlin entered the kitchen. The light from the torches reached far, but not all the way to the back. Merlin had good visibility in the dark, and he didn't feel he needed the whole kitchen lightened up.

The kitchen was very big; twenty cooks would work down here whenever there was a feast to prepare. In the middle of the room stood long tables, and along the walls were storage cupboards and fireplaces. In between the cupboards and fireplaces, various cutleries, pots and pans were hanging from iron hooks; Merlin saw the flames from the torches reflected in their polished surfaces.

He started making his way between the long tables; the kitchen was wide, but as it was a lot more of his body than normal, he found the walking space between the tables a lot more narrow than last time he'd been down here.

Merlin could smell the scents of food still lingering inside the room, and he was amazed he could identify each separate smell. He automatically stuck his nose forward and tasted the air. He was not quite sure how he it was possible, but he could definitely taste(yes, actually taste) the vague scent of carrots...and was that cheese?

One of Merlin's legs suddenly hit something wooden; he looked down just in time to watch a small barrel fall over and hit the floor whit a thud. Merlin felt a pang of fear and took a step back as the sound of the falling barrel assaulted his sensitive eardrums.

Thankfully, the barrel was lidded, so at least the contents didn't spill, and it didn't even roll away as its journey was abruptly halted by the wooden leg of a table.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Merlin continued deeper into the kitchen, keeping his head aloft so he could use his binocular vision. He once again sniffed the air, wondering if he'd recognise the scent of bread.

_Ah ha!_

He directed his vision to the far side of the room.

Merlin kept his gaze forwards all the way along one of the long tables. He was wary of where he put his hooves, not wanting to tip over any more objects tonight. He'd upped the clumsy scale quite enough for one night.

When he reached the back of the kitchen, his nose immediately sought out a medium sized barrel, standing beside a shelf stacked with large silver plates.

He made his way over to the barrel, and barely believed his luck when he discovered it didn't even have a lid on!

Merlin should have known this was almost too easy, and disaster was sure to follow. As it happened, Merlin seemed only to be thinking with his stomach at the moment, and wolfing down dry lumps of bread like there was no tomorrow.

There were the sounds of footsteps in the distance, and a voice suddenly exclaimed "There are lights in the kitchen!"

Merlin's head shot up from the barrel, bread crumbs that had been clinging to his muzzle was sent flying everywhere.

Footsteps where descending the stairs, and through the hall towards the kitchen door.

A nervous ripple ran through Merlin's body and he tensed. He looked around hastily for somewhere to hide, but he couldn't spot any kind of hiding space he'd fit into. How could he have been stupid enough to leave the door open? He was practically advertising his location, though of course no one would expect a horse to be able to light a torch, someone would still investigate when there was light coming from a place it shouldn't.

Merlin looked towards the door and saw two knights clad in their chainmail (didn't they ever take it off?) enter the kitchen at a jog. They stopped when they caught sight of him, and their eyes widened slightly.

Merlin recognised Sir Leon, but he couldn't recall the name of the other knight, who looked very young, shorter than Arthur, with dishevelled dirty blonde hair. He was probably new to the ranks.

The knights looked at each other for a moment, than started walking up the separate isles between the tables.

Merlin felt as though he'd swallowed a stone. His heartbeats increased speed, and another ripple ran through his body. He looked at the two knights coming towards him, taking up any possible escape route.

He was truly trapped this time. He took a subconscious step back, and his hindquarters pressed up against the shelves.

_The shelves, they were stacked with plates!_

The knights were almost upon him now; they were striding confidently up the isles, seeing the horse had nowhere to run and thinking this would be an easy capture.

Merlin took a couple of steps forward, keeping his ears trained on the advancing knights; he looked back at the shelves and the plates. He sincerely hoped the knights wouldn't suspect a horse of sorcery, the thought of a horse using magic was pretty absurd.

Still keeping his ears on the knights, and his eyes on the shelves, he tensed his muscles and gathered a great amount of energy in his hind legs, then lashed them out.

A few of the silver plates dented and others started falling towards the floor, as his hooves smashed violently into the shelves.

Merlin used his magic to send some of the already falling plates flying forwards towards the knights, who shielded their heads with their arms but only backtracked a few steps.

Merlin felt his stomach drop. He's used up all the plates, and the knights started towards him once more. His eyes darted around desperately for something, he didn't know what. He just needed to find something he could use to keep the knights at bay.

The kitchen were full of cutlery, pots, barrels, sacks of flour...

Thinking cutlery, pots, and barrels would be too conspicuous flying through the air seemingly of their own accord, Merlin only saw one option, but if it would have any chance of succeeding, he would have to make some sort of commotion to serve as a short distraction from the magic that was about to be performed.

The knights were alarmingly close now, and Merlin acted at once. He gathered the strength in his hind legs once more, and he reared up, striking out with his front legs and letting out a high-pitched whinny that sounded remarkably like a scream.

The knights seemed taken aback, and the young one stepped back with a slightly fearful expression.

Then two large sacks flew beneath the ceiling and ripped open. Flour rained down upon the knights, and the air filled with white as the flour fogged up half the kitchen. The knights staggered, coughing, and started waving their arms frantically to fan away the flour that was rapidly clogging up their airways.

Merlin knew he'd have to get out of there fast, while the knights were still distracted, and their vision limited by the flour.

Acting purely on impulse, Merlin leaped forward and jumped onto one of the long worktables. Before he'd even considered whether the wood would be strong enough to support his weight, he half-cantered, half-trotted across down the length of the table, through a cloud of flour.

When he reached the end of the table, instead of jumping down into one of the isles, he simply leapt onto the other table and ran down the length of that too. He reached the door, and whiteout looking back, cantered through the doorway and down the corridor. He leaped up a flight of stairs; puffs of flour were coming off of him, and he trotted swiftly down another corridor.

Prince Arthur strode down one of the many castle corridors, unlike his knights, he was simply wearing his casual red tunic, but he hadn't bothered to change his trousers and was still wearing the pair he'd been sleeping in. He was accompanied by the guard who'd been ordered to summon him, and was leading him (not that Arthur needed help finding his way around the castle) to where his knights were gathered, which turned out to be outside the throne room.

"Sire!"

When he came round the corner he was greeted by Sir Leon, whose face, hair, and clothing were completely white.

The corners of Arthur's mouth twitched, and when he spoke his voice held a string of quite obviously concealed amusement, "Sir Leon, what happened?"

"Flour, sire," explained Sir Leon," young Sir Americ and I discovered the horse in the royal kitchen."

Arthur nodded "Where is the horse now?"

"I'm afraid it got away, sire, we do not know here it is."

Arthur craned his neck and looked past Sir Leon, and only saw two other knights present.

"Where are the others?" he asked.

"They are searching the castle for the horse, sire." said Sir Leon.

"Very well," said Arthur, drawing himself up a little," let's go join their search."

Sir Leon and the two other knights nodded courtly, and parted way for Arthur to take the lead.

"Sir Owen," said Arthur as he started down the corridor, "Go fetch some rope."

Arthur wanted this over with as quickly as possible, seeing no point is wasting valuable sleep over a horse. Sir Owen gave a small bow and took a left turn at the next junction.

A few minutes later, Arthur heard distinct clicking sounds. He called his knights to a halt with a raised palm and listened intently as the sounds drew nearer. There was no mistaking what the source of those sounds might be.

Arthur backtracked, his knights immediately following, and they concealed themselves behind a corner. Arthur poked his head around the wall and peered down the corridor, listening to the approaching hooves.

Arthur's blue eyes widened when he saw a tall, dark horse suddenly emerge from around the corner at the far end of the corridor, and smacking sideways into a wall.

The horse quickly recovered, shook its large black body, and started trotting towards Arthur and his knights' hiding place.

Arthur turned back to his knights "wait till it comes round this corner." He whispered, and the knights nodded.

The hoof beats suddenly ceased. Confused by the sudden silence, Arthur once again peered around the corner.

The horse was standing completely still in the very middle of the corridor, ears prickled and head held high. It seemed to be eyeing the corner, behind which Arthur and his knights were hiding, with great suspicion.

Arthur was startled to see the horse's eyes were an incredibly piercing blue, and almost familiar. He couldn't help it; he briefly tried to think whether he could possibly have seen this horse before, he was sure he'd remember if he'd seen a horse with eyes like this one's in the royal stables. It would have been too noticeable not to spare a second glance.

Arthur's and the horse's eyes met briefly. Arthur could have sworn he saw the horse's eyes widen, and he knew he had to act quickly.

He stepped calmly from behind the corner and out into the corridor. He held out his hand and stretched it tentatively towards the horse. The horse was eying him fearfully with wide eyes, but remained in the same spot, and Arthur took this as a good sign.

"Whoa," said Arthur in the most soothing voice he could muster "it's alright."

He took a small step forwards, still keeping his hand outstretched.

Arthur noticed the horse's coat shone beautifully in the flickering light from the torches. He saw a small diamond-shaped star in its forehead, just below its short bangs. _God, that haircut looks like Merlin's_, he mused. He'd be sure to tease Merlin about that later.

"Easy there boy," the horse was a boy, right? Not that he thought it would make much difference what he called it, "just calm down. It's alright"

The horse cocked its head, as though studying Arthur curiously, and Arthur took another step forwards. He felt his knights' gazes on him, and felt slightly embarrassed at his own display of gentleness, even though his knights respected him too much to tease him about it, although Merlin undoubtedly would, but at least he wasn't here. However, as long as his tactic seemed to working, he would stick with it.

He started walking slowly towards the horse, making sure to take small steps. The horse kept its gaze locked on Arthur, but fortunately still made no move to run away.

"That's it," Arthur said gently, smiling at the creature "that's a good boy."

The horse cocked its head to the other side, and if Arthur didn't know better he could've sworn the horse was giving him a look of incredulity.

"There, there, stand still now." Arthur' kept his tone calm and gentle "That's a good boy; definitely more obedient than my manservant." he grinned

The horse suddenly snorted loudly, threw its head back, and swiftly turned around.

"No!" Arthur yelled desperately after it as the horse trotted away down the corridor, and rounded the corner from which it had come.

Arthur swore under his breath, and he heard one of his knights' less than subtle sniggering behind him. He turned and gave them both a warning glare, which shut the knight, Sir Perceval, up at once. Sir Leon was still covered from head to toe in flour, but he held himself high, and looked inquiringly at Arthur for further instructions.

The sound of running feet suddenly echoed down the corridor, and Arthur saw Sir Owen coming towards them, holding a large, rolled-up rope.

"Here is rope, sire." said Sir Owen, slightly out of breath, when he reached Arthur, and he held out the rope. Arthur muttered a 'thanks' and took the rope from Sir Percival with more force than strictly necessary. Sir Percival didn't appear bothered by this in the slightest.

"Come on." said Arthur irritably, turning, and he started running down the corridor after the horse.

After running through the corridors for a while, following the distant echoing of beating hooves, Arthur and his knights found themselves in the western part of the castle, right outside the large oak doors to the castle's library, which held an impressive number of large leather bound books. Arthur was sure some of them were even older than the castle itself. He had even discovered the entry to a couple of secret rooms in the library when he was a child, playing hide and seek with Morgana.

Arthur came to an abrupt halt, and turned to his knights just in time to see Sir Percival crash into Sir Owen's back and mutter a low apology. Arthur resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. His knights were evidently losing focus.

"Sir Owen, Sir Percival," Arthur began sharply, and the two knights immediately snapped to attention, they backs straight and chins high. "Go find the others, tell them the horse is heading towards the west wing, then split up into two groups, one will cover the main corridor, and the other will cover the smaller passageway mainly used by servants. If you shut the door leading back to the east corridors, the horse will have nowhere to run except towards the library, where Sir Leon and I will have a trap ready."

"Yes, Sire!" chorused Sir Owen and Sir Percival, before setting off at a run.

Arthur then set to work, explaining to Sir Leon how they were going to set up the trap. It was all quite simple, Arthur would hide behind the library doors with a rope at the ready ,and throw it around the horse's neck once it passed by, and Sir Leon would help restrain the horse once the rope was safely around its neck. Now, they just had to wait for the other knights to act out Arthur's orders and chase the horse towards them.

It didn't take long before the faint echo of beating hooves could be heard in the distance, growing louder and louder by the second. Arthur peered out the open doors and saw a black muzzle appear round a corner; he quickly retreated back inside the library and listened to the horse's approach.

This required very accurate timing, and Arthur's was excellent.

Arthur took a step outside the doorway and threw the rope with split second precision. He watched in satisfaction as the loop at the end of the rope fell perfectly around the horse's long neck.

Arthur tensed, tightened his hold on the rope, and planted his legs firmly on the ground, readying himself for the jolt that would follow. Behind him, holding the rope firmly with both hands, Sir Leon did the same.

But the jolt never came, and Arthur and Sir Leon watched in bemusement as the horse planted its hind legs firmly on the floor and, sliding a little as its speed decreased, came to an abrupt halt. It straightened itself up, and slowly turned its head around to look at its capturers with its incredibly blue eyes.

Arthur felt a shiver run down his spine as the horse laid its large eyes on him and Sir Leon, and gave them a reproachful look. For a moment, Arthur felt as though its eyes looked right through him, into his very soul. And then the horse's expression changed quite clearly, and Arthur could hardly believe what he was seeing.

Surely that couldn't be right? Horses couldn't smirk, could they?

Arthur felt a sudden sense of foreboding, and his grip on the rope automatically tightened. He saw the horse's powerful muscles flex, and he prepared himself for what was coming.

Arthur had been expecting the horse to leap forward at a run, but was surprised when the horse instead whirled round and leapt right past him and into the library.

The rope suddenly tightened, and there was a powerful jolt. Arthur was knocked clean off his feet and fell, face first, onto the floor. He was still holding onto the rope with all his strength, which Arthur, in retrospect, realised wasn't one of his best ideas, because he was now being dragged behind the cantering horse up one of the isles between the bookshelves. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Sir Leon was being dragged along right behind him.

Though there were no torches lit, the library seemed strangely light as moonlight shone through the large windows at the far end.

The horse seemed to pick up speed. Arthur saw its long, black tail flowing in rhythm with its beating hooves. The sound of the four hooves hitting the hard floor ringed loudly in his ears, and he was suddenly afraid one of them might hit him in the face, even though the distance between himself and the horse was far too great for that to happen.

The horse suddenly took a sharp left turn.

Arthur's insides tightened, and he shut his eyes, turned his face away and bracing himself. With a thud, his side crashed into a bookshelf, and a few heavy volumes tumbled to the floor. Luckily, none of them hit Arthur as he was quickly pulled along before the books could reach him.

There was a yelp of pain, and Arthur looked over his shoulder again, he saw Sir Leon relinquish his hold on the rope as a large leather bound book hit him in the head.

Hoping the book hadn't caused Sir Leon any serious head injuries; Arthur turned his eyes away from the shrinking form of his best knight.

If Prince Arthur wasn't so incredibly stubborn, he'd done the sensible thing and let go of the rope tethering him to the running horse by now. Alas, it would take a lot to pry Prince Arthur away from his prisoner, which, ironically enough, now had him as his prisoner, and was dragging him along a dusty stone floor.

The horse turned its head and looked at Arthur, who was holding the rope so tightly that his knuckles had gone completely white.

Arthur saw its eyes gleam golden, and he paled.

The horse veered off to the right, and Arthur saw the lowest shelf of an enormous bookcase packed with large, and most likely very heavy books, approach at great speed.

He once again shut his eyes tightly and braced himself for the impact, but the impact didn't come, and Arthur opened his eyes a decimal inch. He was still being dragged across the cold floor; he didn't need sight to gather that piece of information, but what he saw made his eyes suddenly fly wide open.

"No!" he gasped "no, no, NO!"

Great, big books were strewn hither and dither all over the floor all the way up the long aisle. The horse, with its big strides, was easily leaping and running over them.

Arthur grunted in pain as his left shoulder smashed into a particularly large, brown volume, and he managed to throw himself to the right with a split second to spear before his face was introduced to a large green book. Unfortunately, throwing himself out of the path of one book, just sent him straight on a collision course with another, and his other shoulder hit the corner of a very heavy black one.

Still, his grip on the rope remained firm.

Determined not to let himself hit any more books, Arthur started to wriggle madly out of the way of the incoming books, but when he successfully managed to avoid crashing into a black one on his left, his back went smashing into two on his right.

He shifted tactic, trying to use his body weight and legs to steer. This new tactic also proved unsuccessful, and so Arthur went back to wriggling like a worm, with zero control over neither speed nor course.

He was sure he was crashing into more books than he was avoiding. All the while, he was determined to hold on to the rope. Whether his determination came from madness or pride, he wasn't quite sure

Finally, the horse reached the end of the blasted aisle and turned a corner again, this time, however, Arthur was ready, and he shifted his position, letting his feet make impact with the large incoming bookcase.

The horse headed for the doors. Arthur had to roll around to let his feet save his back from smahing into one of the open doors as the horse disappeared out into the corridor.

Now being dragged down the long corridor, Arthur briefly caught sight of his remaining knights jumping out of the way of the incoming horse, and flattening themselves against the walls.

They're jaws dropped to the floor as they caught sight of Arthur, hanging on for dear life to the rope dragging him behind the wayward horse, at a very great speed.

"Quickly, you must cut it off as it passes the throne room!" Arthur called to his very astonished knights as he passed.

Arthur didn't have time to hear they're replies, or see whether they were following his orders, because he had to position his legs to cushion his impact with a wall when the horse turned the corner.

**What do you think? I'll love to hear your thoughts on this one! :D Cliffhanger! XD Oh, dear me, Arthur's in a bit of a pickle, isn't he? **

**As usual, I apologise for any typos, and if you spot any grammatical errors (I'm sure there are a few) please, let me know so I can improve ;)**


	5. Merlin and Potions is just a Bad Mix

**Merlin belongs to the BBC.**

**here it is folks, the last instalment of this fic. Enjoy!**

**Oh, and remember to leave me with your thoughts and opinions of it. ;)**

Arthur wasn't sure how long he'd been dragged by a horse through the castle. His palms and arms were burning with the strain of holding onto the rope, and he was pretty sure his knees and elbows were bearing scrape wounds. Still he clung on, and was determined to do so all the way to the throne room, where hopefully, his knights would be waiting for him.

The horse's cantering slowed down, Arthur felt a small wave of relief wash through him, but then he noticed why the horse was decreasing its speed and the feeling vanished just as quickly as it had come. Arthur's eyes widened and he felt something that felt alarmingly like panic overwhelmed him.

The horse was heading for a flight of stairs.

"Oh no!" he groaned.

He'd completely forgotten about all the stairs! Arthur realised just how a ridiculous of an idea holding onto the rope actually was. He should have just let go while they were still in the library, before he'd been smashed into more than a dozen big books. He would have to let go now, wouldn't he? He didn't really fancy being dragged up a flight of stone steps.

Just as the horse's front hooves touched the first step of the stairs, Arthur let go of the rope, throwing his arms wide so as to avoid being burnt by a rope running through his hands. Arthur lay on the cold floor and just watched as the horse jumped up the stairs, hooves clicking against the white marble.

The first Arthur felt when the horse disappeared behind the corner at the stop of the stairs was disbelief, as well as astonishment over having just sees a horse climb a staircase, but then he remembered how much those books crashing into him had hurt, and anger started to cloud any ounce or rationality he had left. This horse had humiliated him, dragged him though a library, down at least two corridors, and almost up a staircase. This was it; Arthur was going to catch this horse no matter what.

Arthur leaped to his feet with renewed vigour, and started running up the stairs after the horse, taking two steps at a time. He rounded the corner at the top and sprinted down the next corridor, following the faint sound of beating hooves. He ran though another corridor before quickly hopping down another flight of stairs, reaching the second floor.

Arthur thought he'd seen all the tricks the horse could possibly use to elude capture, how very wrong his assumption would turn out to be.

As Arthur approached the throne room, he saw the horse was standing dormant in the middle of the corridor, staring at the knights who were blocking the exit of the corridor. The knights were slowly creeping towards the horse. The horse snorted and turned around to run but stopped in the action when it caught sight of Arthur at the other end of the corridor.

Arthur smirked, he was standing at one end of the corridor, and five of his knights were standing at the other, they had the horse trapped in the middle, and the only door was at the left side of the corridor, behind his knights. There was no way the horse could escape.

Arthur couldn't help the small feeling of victory even though it was still a bit too early to celebrate. He wouldn't rejoice until the horse was safely caught and tied up in the stables, with a very big and complicated knot.

Even as Arthur started stalking towards the horse like his knights, reminiscent of a pack of wolves surrounding and moving in on its prey, the horse turned from Arthur to his knight and back, as though weighing its options.

The moonlight shone through the window behind Arthur, and a long flickering shadow of Arthur's silhouette stretched across the floor, coming closer and closer to the horse with the prince's advance. As the head of Arthur's shadow touched the horse's front hooves, the horse seemed to make up its mind.

Arthur reeled when the horse fixed Arthur in a death glare he had never thought a horse capable of. It was surprisingly, and deeply unnerving. He quickly regained his composure, and started to advance on the horse once more, albeit a little more uncertainly.

The horse's ears suddenly flicked backwards to lay flat, and it stamped its left front leg threateningly, but Arthur didn't stop. The horse looked towards the knights for a moment, hesitating, before lowering its hindquarters.

Arthur only realised too late that the horse was gathering its strength in its hind legs, before it leaped forwards, towards him. He froze, it all happened so fast and unexpectedly, Arthur's reflexes didn't even have time to kick in, and his body had him trapped right in the path of a galloping horse. He was going to get trampled, he was sure of it. The horse only ran faster and faster, not veering from its path, not even trying to avoid him.

Arthur's eyes were wide open; his need to see what was happening was stronger than the impulse to close them. It was like everything was happening in slow motion; the horse was so close it wouldn't be able to stop in time had it wanted to, when it suddenly raised itself up, front legs bending underneath its large, black chest. Arthur saw the muscles in the powerful, long legs and front quarters contract at the motion. The back hooves left the ground, Arthur thought he saw its big eyes gleam molten gold in the torchlight, before he looked up in astonishment as the animal soared above him, a huge dark shadow. For a moment he was afraid the hind legs would hit him on the head, but the horse kicked them upwards in the last second.

Arthur only heard dull clicks from the hooves meeting stone as the horse landed, surprisingly gentle, on the floor. He wheeled round just in time to watch the horse take off again, and his eyes widened as the window at the end of the corridor shattered. Shards rained out into the night as the horse leaped through the broken window and out into the darkness beyond.

Arthur could hardly believe what he was seeing, his mind knew what the nature of the images it was being presented with, but his brain seemed to have trouble processing that he had just seen a horse shatter a window and was jumping through it.

The horse vanished out into the night. Arthur darted towards the window and looked down to see the horse land, once again, with amazing gentleness, in the courtyard below. Granted, it hand only jumped from the second floor, but it was still quite a drop.

That horse could not possibly be normal.

The horse down in the courtyard shook its body and snorted again, before it started cantering in the direction of the drawbridge. The dark coat gleamed bluish in the moonlight, and its hooves thumped against the cobbles in a rhythm of three _Click-click-click...click-click-click..._

Arthur watched it reach the drawbridge and cross it, the guards stationed at either side making no move to stop it, they had probably seen it jump out the window and were probably in too much of a state of shock and surprise to do anything, and Arthur had to admit, neither was he. He noted his knights had come up to him and was now standing right behind him, looking out the window. Arthur didn't acknowledge them; he simply stared after the horse as it became a tiny dot in the distance, and at last swallowed by the darkness.

* * *

Merlin galloped across the large field, towards the forest, his legs taking long and powerful strides, kicking up bits of dirt and grass behind him. His coat, now damp with sweat, was shining in the light from the moon, his blue eyes gleaming like sapphire.

It felt incredibly exhilarating to run with such freedom, outside the restrictions of a corridor, and whiteout the need to slow down at every corner. Merlin actually found himself taking a large, joyous buck, and he almost let out a happy whinny but managed to stop himself just in time. It would not do good to advertise his arrival in a forest. Who knew what kind of predators lurked among the trees? He wondered whether perhaps going into the forest was such a good idea after all, but it would provide a good hiding place, and he didn't exactly have to venture that far inside, he would just stay close to the field, far enough inside not to be seen in daylight once the night came to an end.

Even as Merlin passed the first trees and entered the forest, he slowed down to a walk and listened to the sounds of the wilderness around him. He could hear grasshoppers sitting amongst the bushes, the distant hoot of an owl, and a lot of rustling leaves, though he didn't detect any wind. Probably hares, foxes and rodents scurrying about, didn't sound like anything big. He also heard his own hooves walking across the soft ground.

As Merlin walked upon the small paths zigzagging through the forest, he tripped a few times on the upturned roots of trees, and he quickly decided not to go any further, only stepping into a small clearing, which was beautifully illuminated from the light of the moon, before he came to a halt. Looking around, he thought he recognised the place as somewhere he'd passed while accompanying Arthur on his many hunting trips.

Merlin then noticed how tired he felt, and he let out a long breath through his nose. He decided to lie down and rest for a while, and by rest, he meant sleep. The rush of emotions he had felt while being chased through the castle had apparently taken its toll on him, and he was covered in dried sweat. As Merlin bent his front legs and lowered himself to the ground, he decided to never, ever, try jumping out of a window with the body of a horse again, seeing the ground coming at you while simultaneously having a panoramic view of your own decent was an altogether very frightening experience.

With his bent front legs lying underneath his chest, the rest of Merlin's body fell to the ground with a thud. Merlin rolled over on his side, and stretched out every one of his four legs. He laid his head on the cool, soft grass, closed his eyes, and listened to the many sounds of the night, which eventually lulled him into a deep sleep.

The first thing Merlin felt was a shiver run down his body, followed by the feeling of something tickling his cheek and nose. Merlin rolled over to lie on his back. His chest and stomach heated up at once, and he welcomed the warmth. He felt himself falling back into sleep, when something registered in his mind; the fact that the front side of his body was being warmed, while his back felt cold and damp. He had never felt like that lying in his bed before...which meant he wasn't currently lying in his room!

Merlin's eyes shot open and looked right up into a blue sky, crowned by braches and leaves. He abruptly sat up and took in his surroundings. He was in a clearing, and the thing that had tickled his nose had been grass. The sun was low in the sky, but just high enough to send sunbeams down and warming him. It was evidently still early as the grass was still wet.

As the drowsiness brought forth by sleep thinned and left his mind, the events from the past night came back to him. He had been chased through the castle's many corridors by guards, knights, and he'd dragged Arthur through the library, before finally jumping out a window and then retreated to the forest. The part where he'd dragged Arthur behind him through an isle he'd strewn with books lingered in his mind for a moment, and he let out a quiet chuckle. He had to hand it to Arthur, his determination was admirable.

Merlin lifted a hand to the cheek that had been touching the ground, to brush away the wetness from the grass, and that's when Merlin realised he had hands. He had hands, and not hooves!

Merlin held up both his hands in front of him and stared at them for a moment as though he'd never seen anything more astonishing in his life, before he moved his hands to his face and felt it experimentally. He then moved his hands upwards and felt his own hair.

He was human again. His heart beat excitedly against his ribcage, and relief spread through him from his toes and all the way to his head, wonderfully welcoming. The potion had worn off, and he didn't have to worry about how to turn back anymore. He practically jumped to his feet, and he could happy have danced around like a fool in the middle of the clearing if it wasn't for the fact that he now realised he had to get back to the castle, preferably before Arthur came looking for him, grumpy about not having received his breakfast yet. After what Arthur had been though last night, Merlin deduced Arthur probably wouldn't have been in a good mood regardless of whether his breakfast had arrived on time or not.

Merlin looked around, trying to remember which direction the castle was in. He spotted a small path to his left, and started towards. A cold breeze swept though the clearing, and Merlin shivered.

He then realised that despite the warm sunbeams beating down on his back, he felt oddly cold when he wasn't facing the sun, and that's when Merlin looked down at himself, and discovered something he should have the moment he had woken up, but for some reason managed to completely overlook in the fit of thoughts and emotions from the fact that he was no longer a horse.

_Oh..._

He realised hadn't exactly been wearing clothes as a horse...and truth be told he hadn't actually given a thought to the part where he would actually turn back, if he had, he would at least have brought a blanket with him.

_Well, the walk back to the castle will be an interesting one._

* * *

Prince Arthur slept surprisingly well. When he had gone to bed last night he had thought sleep would be more difficult to achieve with all the mad thoughts running though his head, reflecting the peculiar events that had taken place. As it turned out, Arthur had been both physically and mentally drained from trying to catch that damned horse, and only a moment after his head touched the pillow, he had drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

When Arthur woke up, he immediately felt the parts of his body that had made impact with the books in the library ache, and his knees and elbows felt numb, though he suppose that was a bit of a blessing with the sores he had obtained while being dragged across the hard floor. He sat up in bed, and discovered his back ached as well.

Arthur looked less than happy as he looked towards the door, expecting Merlin to barge in as usual, carrying Arthur's breakfast. But the door didn't open just because Arthur stared at it, nor did Merlin materialise.

Arthur wished the lazy, clumsy, idiot of a manservant, who was also Arthur's best friend, would hurry up, because his stomach began to growl loudly. After waiting more or less patiently for Merlin to show, Arthur finally decided to get out of bed and just dress, then he would call for some other servant to bring him his breakfast, and quickly. He would eat first, and then he would go and wake Merlin, the idiot was probably still sleeping. After the embarrassing and infuriating events the night before, Arthur felt in the mood to give Merlin a ruder awakening, and he thought of a bucket of water as he put on his tunic.

As it unfortunately turned out, Merlin wasn't oversleeping, and when Arthur entered Gaius' chambers the physician informed Arthur that he had simply sent Merlin out early to collect herbs. Arthur could forgive Merlin for that, knowing the strain of picking herbs had on Gaius' back these days. So Arthur left Gaius' chambers to go and train his younger knights. He didn't look forward to sparring when body felt so sore, but he would simply had to ignore all the ached and pains like he had been conditioned to.

It was afternoon by the time Merlin finally decided to show up in Arthur's chambers. Arthur was sitting by his desk, looking through the most boring of paperwork. He looked up as he heard the sound of the hinges creaking ever so slightly. Merlin entered, wearing his usual friendly smile.

"Where have you been?" Arthur asked, not even trying to sound casual. He was too annoyed.

Merlin didn't seem fazed "Out collecting herbs for Gaius."

"You certainly took your time." Arthur's eyes narrowed, he doubted even Merlin needed half a day just to collect some herbs, and he suspected Merlin had simply used the opportunity to skive off from work.

"Gaius needed a lot of different herbs collected," said Merlin "and they don't exactly grow right next to each other, I had to go around the whole area surrounding the town."

Arthur chose not to say anything more about the matter, instead he gestured to his unmade four-poster "Well, now that you're here, you can start by changing the sheets."

Merlin went to start his work in the bed.

"And when you're done, you can polish my armour, wash my chainmail, and muck out the-" Arthur cleared his throat "-stables."

"Speaking of stables," said Merlin as he pulled Arthur's sheets off the bed, and Arthur tensed a little.

"I heard some pretty odd things happened last night."

Arthur didn't respond, and so Merlin kept going "I heard some guards talking about a horse running about the castle, and that no one was able to catch it."

"Yes." said Arthur, trying to sound as indifferent as possible.

"So there was a horse in the castle?" Merlin was holding the sheets and looked to Arthur.

"Yes, Merlin," Arthur drawled "there was a horse inside the castle last night."

"And no one could catch it?"

Arthur sighed "No."

"Not even you?" said Merlin incredulously, and Arthur got the impression Merlin was mocking him.

"Merlin, go wash the sheets."

But Merlin went on like he hadn't heard Arthur's order "But if no one was able to catch the horse," Merlin looked puzzled "then what happened to it, where is it now?"

Arthur shot up from his chair and said annoyingly, "I don't know, Merlin, it jumped out of a window!"

Merlin gaped "It did what?"

"It jumped out of a window on the second floor and ran off." Arthur walked over to Merlin and pointed towards the door "Now, go wash those sheets before I add the draperies to your list of things to wash."

Merlin gave Arthur a look that clearly said he knew full well that had been an empty threat, and a really poor one at that. Nevertheless, Merlin started towards the door but turned back at the last second "I almost forgot, I'll just take the chainmail with me and wash it now as well." Merlin started walking towards the discarded chainmail lying at the far side of the room on top of a dresser. "I have to go to the _library_ later."

Arthur froze, did Merlin know more details about what happened last night? Only Sir Leon knew what had taken place in the library, and Arthur knew Sir Leon's loyalty to him was too great for the knight to simply gossip about the Crowned Prince. There was no way Merlin could know.

Arthur watched Merlin pick up the chainmail, with some difficulty as his arms were already occupied with holding the sheets. Merlin managed to put the chainmail on top of the sheets, and as he made his way across the room, Arthur saw Merlin was smirking as he passed him.

The expression reminded Arthur eerily of the horse, and how it had seemed to smirk at him before dragging him through the library. An involuntary shiver ran down Arthur's spine as he thought of the way the horse's blue eyes had glinted mischievously at him.

Arthur was about to tell Merlin off for smirking at him by giving him the chore of sweeping the throne room, but his words died in his throat when he saw Merlin's blue eyes twinkle in the sunlight.

Those eyes? No...surely not? That was just impossible... Arthur quickly dismissed the thought that could be nothing but complete and utter madness.

Merlin stalked out the opens doors, and they shut behind him. Arthur went back to his desk, and the small pile of scrolls he had been looking through previously.

As Arthur sat down and pulled a scroll towards him, he shook any thoughts of strange black horses, libraries, and Merlin's eyes promptly out of his mind. He refused to dwell on them anymore because they were clearly not healthy for his sanity.

**

* * *

**

_Two weeks later_

Merlin couldn't believe his luck, Arthur had given him the afternoon off, and Gaius was out tending to patients. Merlin found himself all alone as he sat by the table, reading his spell book, once again finding himself fascinated by the scribbled potion recipes.

A short recipe written underneath a productivity spell caught his interest. He read the short description of the potion's effects. If brewed correctly, the drinker would find him or herself being able to perform whatever duties with twice as much efficiency as normal. Merlin thought being twice as productive could definitely be useful, especially since he not only had to serve Arthur practically day and night, but also help Gaius collect herbs and go to the market for him.

Merlin was delighted to find all the ingredients the potion required were present in the study. He hurried to gather them all and put them on the table beside his cauldron. Then he lighted the fire and started chopping up the ingredients that needed to be cut into pieces, adding them to his cauldron as he progressed.

Merlin did actually pause in his actions, his small knife aloft, as he was reminded what had happened last time he attempted to brew a potion from his spell book. This time though, Merlin was sure he would not make the same mistakes he had last time. He would make sure to take the cauldron away from the flames as soon as the potion was the right colour, and he would make sure to cover his hands with something as he did it.

Before long, his potion was brewing nicely with the colour of deep blue. Merlin added the last ingredient, which was once again, a lock of his own hair. As the stands of hair sank into the think potion, it changed colour to a light shade of pink. Merlin then covered his hands with his coat and lifted the cauldron away from the flames and put it on another table.

Merlin only had to wait a few moments before the potion was cool enough to be drunk. Merlin felt anticipation grow in his stomach as he picked up a goblet and proceeded to scoop up some potion in it. He drank the goblet of potion on one go. The potion didn't exactly taste anything, but Merlin was so eager to test out its effects he didn't care to take one sip at a time.

Even as Merlin sat the goblet down on the table, he felt a tingling sensation wash through him, and escalating into powerful vibrations. He staggered, but remained standing, all the while the vibrations moved up and down his body, and he felt himself getting warmer and warmer.

Merlin didn't know whether this was supposed to be normal or not, and if he would be twice as productive when the vibrations would finally cease. He could only hope this was the case.

The vibrations continued to get warmer until at last becoming a burning sensation. Merlin closed his eyes and cried out as white hot pain shot through his every nerve, before suddenly vanish, along with the vibrations.

Merlin let out a sigh of relief, glad that it was finally over. He opened his eyes, and the reeled back in shock.

Standing in front of him, was none other than himself...his very naked self!

Merlin.02 was looking around his surroundings with child-like interest, before settling his eyes on Merlin and grin goofily.

_Well_, Merlin thought wryly as he looked his clone up and down, _this is_ _not quite what I had in mind when I read the potion would make me twice as productive._

**

* * *

**

**So, what did you think? you didn't expect that ending, did you? XD So, do you think this calls for a sequel? I could call it Merlin's Other Potion Accident, but I suppose it wasn't exactly an accident, more like misunderstood or misguided potion description...anyway... Be sure check out my other fanfic 'Merlin And Harry Potter' which can be found on my profile. ;)**

**Thank you so much to everyone who reviewd, you have all been aboslutely lovely! And of course, thank you to everyone who added this story to their favourites and story alerts. **

**I hope you have enjoyed the ride!**


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